Strain sauce through fine strainer into small saucepan; discard solids. Mix butter and flour in small bowl. Bring sauce to simmer over medium-high heat; gradually whisk in flour mixture. Cook until sauce is reduced to 1 1/4 cups, about 5 minutes. (Sauce can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm over medium heat.)

For beef tenderloin:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place rack on rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle beef generously with salt and pepper. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over high heat. Add beef to skillet and cook until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Transfer beef to rack on baking sheet. Roast in oven until thermometer inserted into center of beef registers 120°F for medium-rare, about 35 minutes. Transfer beef to cutting board and let rest 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare creamed spinach:

Boil whipping cream in heavy large pot until reduced by half, about 4 minutes. Add half of spinach to pot and toss just until spinach begins to wilt, about 1 minute. Add remaining spinach to pot; toss just until all spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Cut beef tenderloin crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Divide creamed spinach among 6 plates. Top with beef slices, dividing equally. Spoon sauce over and around beef. Divide Truffled French Fries among plates and serve.

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Reviews

I've made this sauce a half dozen times over the years, and it has gotten rave reviews from those eating my beef tenderloin paired with the sauce. It takes time--and I think it makes sense to use quality mushrooms (I've used various kinds), quality heavy DRY red wine (I think Pinot is not heavy enough), and quality stock.... all that's left is to be patient and then also to add the flour slowly and in small increments.

This rating is only for the red wine sauce only. It was time consuming and pretty bad. Given the wonderful ingredients, I thought it would be much better. Like others, I had to doctor it up to make it acceptable. Written at is, I got a bland, floury sauce that was unpleasant. The times shown for reducing the liquids were too long as well. I would skip this and find a better sauce. (To doctor this sauce, I had to add garlic and rosemary and added more beef stock to the finished sauce to think it out. It was way too thick.

I'm glad I made the sauce a day ahead, because it needed fixing. It was a bit too sweet and vinegary. I reduced It all the way to just 1 cup, so not enough reduction wasn't the problem. I think the problem was that I used an inexpensive cabernet that was a bit on the sweet side. I ended up making a separate mushroom gravy with sautéed mushrooms, shallots, chicken stock and roux, and combined it with the red wine sauce, and it was really good. If I make this again I'll definitely use a pinot like the recipe calls for, and maybe still cut back on the sugar and vinegar.

This is amazing! I have made it a few times and it is always a winner. A few tips on the sauce - I always make it earlier in the day or the day before (it's a bit messy and not something you want going when guests arrive). It takes A LOT longer for the final reduction than the recipe states (more like 30-40 minutes). Be patient and work with the consistency rather than the times noted. I also tend to use more mushrooms and home-made stock or concentrate the canned stuff a bit. This sauce is totally worth the effort, but requires planning.
The creamed spinach is light - more like a cream coating than dense, heavy creamed spinach. I do halfed-fingerling potatoes tossed in truffle oil and truffle salt, then roast them in the oven. The beef is easy and fool-proof. I salt the meat the night before. After bringing to room temperature, I use a blow-torch to completely sear the meat before it goes into the oven (a Thomas Keller trick for prime rib - also a winner).

So many people raved about the sauce... but I found it insipid... despite two bottles of red wine!! I served this for Christmas dinner. Since I was serving 12, I needed to double the ingredients. It killed me to open up two nice bottles of Pinot Noir, especially when the end result wasn't all that great.
Followed the directions to a T, but the end results was watery and just so so. I think a bearnaise sauce would have served me much better!!

This is an absolutely outstanding
recipe. Something I & my husband
will rave about for a long time. I
shopped for the beef tenderloin at
Whole Foods and ended up with the
tenderloin that they cut the filet
mignons from. An incredible cut of
meat - obviously key to this recipe.
The red wine sauce turned out great
and wasn't too time consuming to
make. Didn't make the truffled
fries, served with garlic mashed
potatoes and asparagus. Delish!

The red wine sauce is amazing! I
made this for my husband's
birthday. We ended up eating at
midnight--the sauce takes a while,
but it's worth it. Next time if I
do this on a weeknight, I'll prep
the sauce the night before. We ate it with mashed potatoes instead of
fries. Great meal to
impress...anyone!

I've made this dish several times. It never ceases to amaze! I'm hosting a dinner party tomorrow night and these recipes are the foundation of the meal! I typically halve the sauce because otherwise there's a lot leftover (and I hate leftovers). I also add some onion to the recipe (a quarter cup in my halved product) and a couple diced garlic cloves. Additionally, I cook the tenderloin in a 500 degree oven for 22 minutes - a technique I got from epicurious...

Ok. This was good. This is really
good. Used steaks and halved the
recipe so it was only for two. The
wine sauce was incredible. Creamed
spinach, /especially/ for only
having _2_ ingredients, was
outstanding. I'll do the whole kit
again and again. Easy enough for a
week night yet amazing enough for
impressing the boss's boss.

This is for the creamed spinach recipe. it was wonderful! the spinach is so fresh (becuase it is fresh) and it was the easiest thing I ever made...great band for the time...I followed the amounts and had enough for 10 people.

I made this sauce to serve with beef tenderloin and it was a big hit. I used a merlot and the sause smell didn't agree with me...I served it as a side with the beef and everyone used and and loved it...the next day, we made steak sandwiches with left over beef and every wanted the sauce on it..so I guess they meant it. next time I'll try a different wine and maybe decrease the viniger. I never did try it.

I'm giving four forks and a standing
ovation for the Red Wine Sauce,
which was extraordinary! I made beef
trenderloin and served it with the
sauce, and it was very flavorful and
rich. It does take a lot of time to
make, but it was so worth it. -- I
doubled the recipe (mainly because I
was fearful I wouldn't have enough
or that I'd mess it up). To the
contrary, it was perfect (a big
accomplishment for me and reduction
sauces), and my double batch served
8 generously, with a good cup of
leftovers. It has kept well in the
refrig. (don't know how it would
freeze), and I used it on pork chops
and another filet. Scrumptious!

Wow, just made this for Christmas
dinner and the red wine sauce was
out of this world! I will say that
it was too thin at the end (as
mentioned by some previous
reviewers) and I had to use a
cornstarch slurry and additional
reduction time to get it to the
correct consistency. The only
change I made was to add some finely
chopped garlic to the mushroom and
shallot saute. I think that
the second 'simmer' should probably
be a reduction by boiling because I
ended up with much more than the 1
1/2 cups in the recipe. However,
the flavor was outstanding and we
were dipping everything in it!
Yumm! The beef is a no brainer as
is the spinach and we didn't make
the truffled fries. A great sauce
recipe, put it in your box!

Like everyone else, we loved this sauce! The only thing I would do different next time is less sugar. The shallots have such a nice sweetness, I don't think sugar is needed. We used a $12 bottle of cab sav and it had a wonderful flavor.